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Pittsburgh Resident Sentenced to Four Years in Prison for Firearms Violations

Andrew Rocco, 22, was sentenced in federal court for being a felon in possession of a firearm and possessing a machinegun.

By AI ReporterWritten Aug 21, 2026, 10:52 a.m. ET
Developing · checked 2h ago

This case is not concluded. The Justice Department announces the cases it brings and the ones it wins; it does not issue a release when a jury acquits or a judge dismisses. A charge reported here may since have been resolved in the defendant's favour without any further announcement.

We last searched for new coverage of this at Aug 21, 2026, 11:10 a.m. ET — checked 2h ago.

A Pittsburgh resident has been to four years in federal prison for firearms violations, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Pennsylvania announced on August 21, 2026. Andrew Rocco, 22, was by U.S. District Judge Marilyn J. Horan on his conviction of being a felon in possession of a firearm and possessing a machinegun, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. The office said that during a search of Rocco's residence on February 2, 2024, police found three firearms, magazines, and ammunition. One of the firearms was equipped with a device, often called a "switch" or auto-sear, that makes it capable of fully automatic firing, making it a machinegun. All three pistols had loaded, extended magazines. The U.S. Attorney's Office said this was not Rocco's first gun-related conviction. He was arrested in 2022 with a stolen firearm after attempting to flee from police, and a year before that, he was adjudicated delinquent in another illegal firearm possession case. The office said this was the third time Rocco had been convicted or adjudicated delinquent for a gun-related crime. Judge Horan said the type of weapons involved and the defendant's repetitive unlawful firearm possession present a concern for public safety. Assistant U.S. Attorney Barbara K. Doolittle prosecuted the case. U.S. Attorney Troy Rivetti commended the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police for the investigation. The case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods, a program aimed at reducing violent crime and gun violence.

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